I have used this before and its very simple to use and is relatively inexpensive.

http://www.softperfect.com/products/bandwidth/

If you just need it for testing - you might get away with just using...

I would try a  dirty read.  That is use a NO_LOCK hint in your select statement and see if that helps.  If it is better then look for a locking issue.

Double check to make sure you have the client network setup correctly.  Also make sure you have selected SQL Server under General tab of linked servers,  And like Kathi said...

Follow the steps above listed by Deven Fadia for truncating the log and then shrink it to a respectable size - that should...

In ,my opionion for a DBA position the key technical areas - one should be familiar with are:

Backup and Recovery - Giving situations and DB - know what backup method is...

Thank You.

Vik.

Thank you all for your replies.  I copied over the Database from Prod to test and ran the indexdefrag followed by the shrink.  I did reclaim a lot of space. ...

I have reclaimed a lot of space using INDEXDEFRAG followed by a DB shrink as the INDEXDEFRAG will defrag the indexes and remove all unused pages.  After this I run...

Thanks Allen,  I know that as I have been using dbcc dbreindex for years on SQL 7.  We just upgraded to SQL 2000 and I learnt of Indexdefrag and it...

Ok thanks John.  So Shall I run DBCC INDEXDEFRAG on all the above tables for all indexes, clustered and non-clustered followed by a DB shrink?  Will that be enough to...

So whats the best way to tackle this - would a reindexing followed by DB shrink free up this space or would it be better idea to drop and rebuild the indexes...

Hi Christine,

I have done it numerous times and it works great.  Up to you, ofcourse if you feel uncomfortable doing it - thats understandable

Hi Christine,

Another route you can try is by using detach and then  when you do the attach, attach the MDF and not the LDF.   SO basically what you will do...

Ok thanks - sounds like a plan

Thanks Darrel - already thought of that - unfortunately we are talking of millions of records - so not practical in this situation